Nassar, ex-trainer are charged with sexual assault in Texas

DALLAS — Larry Nassar, the disgraced former sports doctor, and a onetime trainer were charged with sexual assault on Friday following an investigation involving an elite gymnastics center in Texas.

A grand jury indicted Nassar on six counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child, while a former trainer, Debbie Van Horn, was indicted on one count, Walker County prosecutor Stephanie Stroud said during a news conference in Huntsville. Details of the alleged assaults weren’t immediately released.

Nassar is already serving decades in prison for sexual assault and child pornography possession in Michigan, where hundreds of women and girls accused him of sexually abusing them under the guise of medical treatment, including while he worked for USA Gymnastics, which is responsible for training Olympic gymnasts, and Michigan State University.

The new charges stem from an investigation at the famed gymnastics training center just outside Huntsville that was run by former national women’s gymnastics team coordinators Bela and Martha Karolyi. Five former gymnasts implored authorities last month to determine whether the Karolyis could have prevented abuse at their facility. Two gymnasts said Nassar abused them there.

Stroud said Friday there is “no corroborated evidence of any criminal conduct” by the Karolyis, and that the couple, who have denied knowledge of any mistreatment at their since-closed facility about 70 miles north of Houston, “were and remain fully cooperative with this investigation.”